Solid Dosage Forms of Dexamethasone Sodium Phosphate Intended for Pediatric Use: Formulation and Stability Studies

• Main Authors: Maria S. Synaridou, Eleftherios G. Andriotis, Constantinos K. Zacharis, Dimitrios G. Fatouros, Catherine K. Markopoulou
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-04-01
• Series: Pharmaceutics
• Subjects: chocolate formulation; dexamethasone sodium phosphate (DSP); high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC); in vitro digestion
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4923/12/4/354

Undesirable taste has always been a key issue for oral dosage forms. The aim of the present study was to co-formulate dexamethasone sodium phosphate (DSP), in common pediatric oral forms, using sweet preserves and/or different types of chocolate as excipients. An array of different kinds of chocolate were co-formulated with DSP and were further characterized by means of dynamic light scattering (DLS), x-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. For the assay of active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), the chocolate samples were pre-treated by means of liquid extraction and analyzed using an high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method with a strong anion exchange column and a phosphate buffer (17 mM, pH = 3)/acetonitrile, 50:50 <i>v</i>/<i>v</i> as mobile phase. The developed chromatographic method was validated based on the International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) guidelines (%Mean Recovery = 99.4% and %Relative Standard Deviation, RSD = 0.43%). Furthermore, dissolution and in vitro digestion tests of chocolate formulations were evaluated. The DSP was found to be stable for at least 1 year in prepared preparations.